Carol Stream's Bigfoot: Is monster really out there?

By Dave SchneidmanChicago Tribune

As far as monster go, the Carol Stream apparition ranks far down on the scale. Maybe 7 feet tall and weighing a tad more than 500 pounds, it isn't very big, and it's a total dropout when it come to raising havoc thruout the countryside and make brave men.s blood run cold.

But don't knock it - it's the only monster the Chicago area has.

First sighted about a month ago by several youths in a Carol Stream cornfield, the monster, described as black with a gray-tipped head and with eyes the size of golfballs (a fiendish red color, those eyes), has been scaring a lot of people but has done remarkably little damage.

It has also brought itself to the attention of the Yeti Research Society headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla., as organization devoted to the study of such monsters.

Since the creature was first discovered, there have been about a dozen sightings in Carol Stream, and from descriptions and evidence the Yeti Society is convinced there is a genuine Yeti in the vicinity - possibly a family of them.

Just what is a Yeti? Well, that's what members of the society would like to know. From all indications, a Yeti is sort of a man-like ape which has been popping up now and again, hither and yon, for 500 years.

However, "the Carol Stream Yeti, or Yetis, is, or are, quite a first for the Chicago area," according to Gordon Prescott, head of the society.

"The closest a Yeti has been to Chicago before this was in the Murphysboro, Ill., sightings.

Several years ago the small downstate community was up in arms over a strange creature which had been thrashing about in the underbrush nearby, destroying trees and scaring local residents.

As a matter of fact, Prescott said, the Murphysboro creature was last seen only a few weeks ago.

Society members are convinced the Yeti exists.

"The Indians called him Bigfoot, and the early European who came to our shores called him Wildman," Prescott said. "In the Himalayas, the natives have legends of a similar creature which they term Yeti - sometimes referred to as the Abominable Snowman."

Anyhow, from his experience with Yetis, Prescott has this advice for Carol Stream residents:

- First, don't panic. Yetis are docile souls, and if you leave them alone they'll leave you alone.

- Second, the next time one happens to cross your path, report the incident immediately by writing the Yeti Research Society, Post Office Box, 10795, St. Petersburg, Fla., 33737.

- Third, keep in mind that the male Yeti, fully grown, can weigh close to 1,000 pounds and is strong enough to topple an auto. He also has great curiosity, about humans. So, if he stares at you, don't fight him, just let him stare. He doesn't mean any harm.

A Yeti, Prescott said, can make three distinctive sounds, none of them pleasant - a sharp, high-pitched bark; a sort of growl ending in a high pitched scream, and a kind of whistle.

The Yeti's eating habits are omnivorous. According to Prescott they have been known to eat cattle, tree bar, rats, corn, dogs, cats - in fact, just about anything except fellow Yetis and humans.

Aha, you say, if there have been all those sightings thruout history, and they know all those things about them, why has no one yet captured or killed a Yeti.

Well, there was a capture of a Yeti in 1934 In Arcadia, Fla, according to Prescott. A Yeti was destroying cattle, and finally ranchers, fed up with the nuisance, tracked the Yeti - a female - and captured it.

Not knowing what else to do with the thing, the ranchers locked it up in the Arcadia jail, but that plan lasted only a month or so.

Seems that other prisoners and jailers couldn't tolerate the smell - similar to rotten eggs - or the sound of the thing longer than that, so the ranchers took the Yeti back to where they found it and set it free.